In this blog post we want to tell you a bit about one of the very first clinical trials we recruited for as we were getting started with Lindus Health earlier this year. We really enjoyed working with the team at DnaNudge and think it’s a great example of how Lindus Health can turbocharge recruitment!

Let’s start with some background and the recruitment challenge they were up against.

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Company and clinical Trial background

DnaNudge’s mission is to allow you to use your own DNA to inform your everyday choices, particularly around food and diet. They make health personal.

Their trial, ASPIRE-DNA, is being run in partnership with Imperial College London (source). The trial is investigating the effectiveness of a DNA-based diet on reducing the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in people who have pre-diabetes (source).

The primary objective, to see if there are any changes in glucose regulation (a primary indicator of diabetes risk) between the control and intervention groups.

Recruitment problem faced

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic pausing in-person research, trial enrolment was up to only ~50% of the target with just a couple of months to go until  the completion date set for December 2021.

Standard recruitment channels had been exhausted. The team had worked with the local trials units, GPs and even developed a novel partnership with Waitrose.

With a trial duration of 26 weeks, the sponsors were keen to get people enrolled as soon as possible!

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Lindus Health’s solution: Multi-channel recruitment for a prediabetes study

There is no “one size fits all” for trial recruitment. Each trial must be tailored to the patients each study is looking to enrol. Using a patient-centric recruitment approach is paramount but the channels that can or should be used will vary trial-to-trial. Using the right combination of recruitment channels will almost certainly turn out better recruitment results!

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Some of the specifics of our multi-channel recruitment strategy for ASPIRE-DNA:

• Social media campaign with focused messaging about enabling patients to learn more about their prediabetes and finding ways to reduce the risk of a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. This really resonated with people looking to get involved in such a trial - some even emailed asking to be enrolled sooner!
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• We reached out to individuals who were involved in relevant nutrition groups, given that they were likely to be particularly engaged by DnaNudge’s offering.
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• All patient facing materials on our website and pre-screener were drafted with the help of our Patient Advisory Board, which includes experts in patient centricity and communication. This helped to ensure smooth participant transition all the way through to randomisation.

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Don’t just take our word for it, look at the results!